Canon Canonet QL 17 GIII

The Canonet QL 17 GIII is the final, high-end version of Canon's famous Canonet compact rangefinder series of the 60s and 70s. It provides shutter-priority auto-exposure and parallax compensation with its 40mm f/1.7 lens. The lens is sharpest at f/4 - f/5.6 [1]. Its Copalleaf shutter offers shutter speeds from 1/4 to 1/500, with X flash sync at any speed.

Contents

Metering and automation

The meter uses a CdS cell mounted on the lens, just above the front element. It offers shutter-priority autoexposure, or unmetered manual mode. In shutter-priority mode, the automatically selected aperture is indicated in the viewfinder by a needle over an aperture scale. There's a small fresnel lens in front of the CdS cell. When selecting a different shutter speed, you can see a ring with a series of perforations moving in front of the metering cell. This way, a faster speed gives less light on the cell. A simple, mechanical solution. Since the metering unit is placed within the filter thread, it compensates automatically for filters. Very handy.

It was designed to use the PX625 mercury battery, no longer available in the US. The circuitry in the camera holds up well against slightly higher voltages, so you can use a PX625A alkaline battery as a drop-in replacement, but you will find your exposures tend to be slightly off. Only the autoexposure system requires a battery, however. The mechanical shutter functions perfectly under manual settings with no battery whatsoever. Therefore, if you own a handheld light meter, you can use this camera without a battery.

Flash

A dedicated flash unit was sold with this Canonet. Since it has a hotshoe, no extra cables are required. However if you want to use another type of flash, there is a flash contact hidden beneath plastic cover on the left of the body, near the carrying eyes.

Conclusion

The QL 17 GIII is about 2/3 the weight of a Leica M6 with a similar lens, and is much quieter, making it an excellent alternative to higher-priced rangefinder cameras. They existed in chrome or in black. They can often be found on eBay for as little as $30, and with over a million of the cameras sold, they are fairly common at flea markets and garage sales as well.